Entanglements
by Calie1
Summary: Spoilers for Disciple. If only you didn't need them.


Notes: Takes place during Disciple. Soooo SPOILERS FOR DISCIPLE. This is more my wish of what would happen mixed in with some spoilers. I wrote another fic called Facing Fears which is also connected to Disciple, this story is not connected to that one.

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"You okay?" Oliver took her hand and pulled her up off the ground with one hand, the other still holding his bow. Glancing away from her he looked up to the rooftops for any sign of the attacker, but he was gone.

"Yeah," Chloe responded shakily, looking in the same direction as Oliver. She turned her head back around spotting the two arrows imbedded in the wall behind her.

Oliver followed her line of sight and grimaced, walking towards them. He yanked them out, eyes running over the length of them, frown deepening at their familiarity. "Lois was attacked earlier tonight. Clark was there."

She couldn't make out his face in the darkness and the shadows from his hood, but she could tell by his voice he wasn't happy. Chloe knew it was no coincidence that another hooded figure was roaming the city shooting arrows. "Someone you know?"

"Yeah."

"Care to tell me about it? Seeing as I just saw my life flash before my eyes." He turned back to her, shadows and glasses still shielding his features from her.

"Later. We need to get out of here."

As much as she wanted answers she had to agree. So she let him lead her away. Instead of sending her on her way so he could track down her attacker he followed her home, insisting that he wanted to make sure the area was secure.

When they entered the tower he finally shed the glasses, laid his bow to the side, and pushed back his hood. Chloe moved for her computers to scan the perimeter but his hand on her wrist stopped her. "Wha-."

"You're bleeding." Oliver took her chin in his gloved hand and tilted her head to the side surveying the scratch. His eyes fell to her arm which also sported a rather deep gash.

Chloe brought her hand up to her cheek and touched it. When she pulled it away she winced at the blood. "I'll take care of it in a minute. I need to get some security set up."

"Go ahead." Oliver released her and turned away, heading to the bathroom. The least he could do was make sure she was safe and bandaged up before he went back out to hunt down the Dark Archer.

She heard footsteps behind her, but didn't turn to face him immediately. "I don't see anything. I'll just be a couple more seconds." He was silent behind her, which she had expected. Obviously whatever was going on solely concerned him, but somehow she and Lois had been dragged into it. Chloe knew a lot about Oliver, but she didn't presume to know everything. This seemed to be one of those occasions. When she turned around he was against the small table with a few items from her bathroom waiting beside him. "I can take care of it Oliver. This isn't the first time I've taken a spill."

"Humor me. Come on," He said, nodding to one of the empty chairs. To his relief she relented, taking a seat.

"So?" Chloe pried as soon as he sat across from her and scooted closer. One of his knees slid between her legs, so that he could reach her face more easily.

"He's someone from my past," Oliver said in response. He didn't necessarily want to go into detail, but considering she'd almost been killed he figured he owed her some of the truth. "Not all of my training was when I got stranded on that island."

Chloe watched his hands as he lifted them to her face, holding it still with one hand and gently cleaning the wound with the other. It burned slightly, but she refused to wince.

"After I returned home I wanted to get more training. Some of my mentors may have been of a questionable nature." Oliver glanced away from her cheek and looked into her eyes for a reaction, but there was none. Only wide eyed curiosity. "One man in particular. He was very talented, maybe even more so than me."

The thought that someone might be better then Oliver was a little frightening. In the beginning Chloe had done her research on Oliver. He was VERY good. There were probably five people in the whole world that could do what he did.

"Since I've known him he's changed. That questionable nature isn't so questionable anymore. A few years back he became an assassin. After falling off the face of the earth for a while, he popped back up a few months ago."

Chloe waited as he cleaned her arm and began applying an ointment to it. When he didn't speak up she pushed. "What does he want?"

"I'm not sure. Holds a grudge against me I know. He has certain standards by which he operates by that I don't necessarily follow." As he brushed his fingers over her cheek, applying ointment to it, he glanced into her waiting eyes. His chest felt heavy as he considered what he'd just put her through.

"So why not bring the fight directly to you?" Chloe had a feeling she knew the answer. She'd been the victim more than once when someone was out to get Clark.

"One of the codes he lives by is no entanglements, nothing that isn't business related." Oliver reached for the gauze and began bandaging her arm. "They make you weak, make you vulnerable. You can't care for anyone, you can't love anyone."

"But Lois, she and Clark are-."

"Doesn't matter." Oliver laid tape over edges of the gauze. "I'm sure he's been watching me for a while. Regardless of the fact that I'm not involved with Lois now he knows that I was, and probably assumes I still care for her, at least as a friend."

"So what's that got to do with me?" Chloe pushed. The fact that they worked so closely together should have been the obvious answer, but she still felt the need to ask.

Oliver dropped the tape to the side and lifted the small band-aid he had retrieved. "Considering our constant interaction with one another..." She nodded in understanding, needing no further explanation, although he felt there was more to say. After applying the band-aid he looked back into her face. "You should probably wash them thoroughly tonight."

Chloe nodded in response. Just when she expected him to stand and leave, he didn't budge. His eyes were still on her, and she had to wonder what exactly was going through his mind in that moment. When his face darkened slightly she couldn't help but question him. "What?"

Oliver brought his hand to her face again and tilted her chin to the side. "Your cheek is bruising."

When his hand moved out of the corner of her eye she glanced over just before it touched her face.

She winced slightly at his touch. "Tender?"

"Yeah," Chloe nodded, but his touch was gentle after that. His other hand fell from her chin, but the other remained in place, palm pressing gently against her jaw and thumb moving softly over her cheek.

"Chloe, I'm sorry. This is my fault, I-."

"No." Chloe shook her head. "Don't. You don't have to explain to me." Her voice was softer than she expected. Their close proximity made talking above a whisper pointless.

He sighed, guilt still weighing heavily on him. But he could see in her eyes that she held nothing against him. Even so, he let his hand fall from her face. "Maybe he was right."

"About what?"

"No entanglements. If I didn't let myself get close to anyone they wouldn't get hurt." He made to move away from her, already wanting to put up a wall between them.

"No." She grabbed his arm, holding him in place. "That's what Clark thought. That's what you thought before. It didn't work out well for either one of you. This guy, this Dark Archer, you aren't him. Do you want to live a life like that?"

"No, but if it means keeping people safe-."

"You can't keep everyone safe, and you can't do things on your own. Even Clark, with all of his alien abilities can't save everyone."

"Chloe..."

She could see that he didn't want to listen to reason. "No." Without thinking she grabbed his face in her hands. "Oliver, people need you. And not just strangers. Your friends need you." He took her wrists in his hands and pulled them down.

"And if I had been two minutes later?" Oliver reminded her. The answer too painful for him to even say out loud.

"You weren't."

"I could have been."

"Do you know how many what ifs I could rattle off right now Oliver? I should be dead already. Probably twenty times over. You can't do it alone Oliver, even if you think you can. Just because you're a hero doesn't mean you have to be alone."

He shook his head, refusing to listen to her, even though he could admit it was unreasonable of him. "I need to go."

Chloe frowned at him as he stood up and retreated from her. This time she wasn't going to stop him. He did need to go. There were more pressing matters to tend to. She did follow him to the door though, something she rarely did. When he stopped and turned to her he was already donning his glasses and hood again. Bow ready and in hand. "Look Oliver, before you start making any life changing decisions let me know." His jaw twitched as it seemed to tighten. "Don't disappear on me. There's too much other stuff going on in the world. And although you believe you can do it alone, I can't."

It was the last thing he wanted to hear, her asking for him to stay, admitting that she needed him. Against his better judgement he raised his hand again to her cheek, this time without the pretense of tending to any wound or investigating her injuries. Her green eyes peered up at him, almost pleading. Oliver didn't even want to consider what it meant. His refusal to understand his feelings or her own didn't stop him from leaning forward though, bending his head lower. Her breath came out shakily, warming his lips, and then he stopped, just inches before closing the distance. "Sometimes, it's safer to keep certain feelings to yourself." To him the regret in his tone was obvious, he only prayed she didn't pick up on it.

Chloe blinked once, then twice, and he was gone. His words lingered with her, a hidden meaning behind them that she couldn't ignore. One that she felt herself. Something that neither one of them could really admit to, but was only confirmed by the gentle touches, their close proximity, and the way his lips had hovered just inches above her own. Under normal circumstances she would have grasped his arm, tilting her head up towards him, meeting him halfway...but the circumstances weren't different and their lives would never be so simple.


End file.
